


i understood that reference

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ms. Marvel (Comics)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Gen, Musical References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 07:49:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11436402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Kamala Khan loves musicals.((aka, 5 Times Kamala Got Someone Into a Musical, and One Time They Got Her Into One))





	i understood that reference

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in some mixture of the comics and the MCU, so.

1.

Kamala and Bruno sat together in her living room, just keeping each other company as they did their homework. Kamala hummed along to the music playing from her earphones, and Bruno smiled almost softly.

Kamala interrupted the quiet by hitting her head on the table and groaning.

“I cannot get this for the life of me. Why does math _do_ this? Who thought it was a good idea to make sixteen-year-olds learn this?” She put her head in her hands and sighed loudly.

Bruno stood up and walked over to her, putting a hand on her chair and looking over her work. He snorted as he saw her notes.

“Were you actually paying any attention in class?” Instead of any actual math, her notes were full of drawings and doodles, a surprisingly large amount of them being _her_ in her costume.

“You draw yourself. What next, you write fanfiction about yourself too?” Bruno asked Kamala with a laugh. She just blushed and he laughed. “No way, you actually do!”

She shoved him playfully back a few steps, and he smiled.

“Ok, so with this – see this problem? You’ve got to do it like this,” he said, and then demonstrated it to her. She sighed and adjusted her earphone.

“You are a _lifesaver_.”

Bruno smiled and put a hand to his heart. “Who, me?” Then he picked up the earphone that was now laying on the table, and listened to it a bit.

“What’s this? I don’t recognise it…”

“Oh, it’s this musical. [Heathers](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA0B_ne4hZEY_HJiTypgqKtArvzcT2Ucq), it’s amazing. Listen to it.”

“What is it with you and musicals all of a sudden? Is this replacing your Avengers obsession?”

She glared at him. “ _Nothing_ can replace the Avengers in my heart. This is just something added, you know?” He just shrugged.

“Are you going to start writing fanfiction about _these_ as well?” She blushed again and he chuckled. “Ok, come on, where is it? I have to read these. How can you find something to write about _musicals_? Like, the Avengers I get, you can make up missions and things for them, but _musicals_?”

She glared at him. “Alternate Universe. Not canon compliant. Post-canon, pre-canon… it’s _not hard_.”

Bruno laughed. “Sure, ok. I’m still going to read those.” She just ignored him and reached for her phone, starting the first song – [Beautiful ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAmmc7VFiZY&index=1&list=PLA0B_ne4hZEY_HJiTypgqKtArvzcT2Ucq)– and turning back to her math homework, trying to do it like Bruno had shown her.

“This is going to take a while, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, because after the musical we’re going to watch the bootleg, and you’re going to love it.”

 

She cheered to herself a week later when she heard him humming along to [Candy Store](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQOoTX1Nxx8&list=PLA0B_ne4hZEY_HJiTypgqKtArvzcT2Ucq&index=2), and then just shot him a knowing look.

Not yet content, she smirked. “Hey Bruno,” she started, “You should _totally_ learn the dance to that. Show off those legs of yours.”

He just glared at her as Zoe and Nakia looked at them in confusion, but she winked at them. “Don’t worry, you’re next.”

 

 

2.

Turns out Zoe and Nakia _weren’t_ next. Instead, next was _Tony Stark_. Iron Man, Tony Stark. Genius, Tony Stark. Billionaire, Tony Stark. _That_ Tony Stark.

Tony Stark, who had somehow decided that Kamala Khan was good enough for the Avengers, who had seen Ms Marvel and been impressed.

Every time she thought about it too hard, Kamala thought that she would scream. And actually… _she had_ , the first time they met properly.

(Then he had told her to call him “Tony”…and it was then that she had really flipped out. She might have cried. She had then made him promise not to tell either Miles or Sam, because they would never let it go. She was just happy that he didn’t know Bruno, or Zoe, or Nakia, because they would _make him_ tell them.

A few days later, he had given _her_ a nickname – one taken from the superhero side. M&M. Every time she he called her it, she wanted to squeal because _M &M_.)

She had just come to the Tower for the first time (it was amazing. Everything she had ever imagined.) and Tony had taken her down to his workshop to see if they could do any upgrades to any of her things.

When Tony finally found a way that he could improve the suit he almost bounced over to her, showing her everything he could do to it, and _god_ did he look like a hyperactive puppy like this. She never would have thought that those words could apply to Tony Stark, but they could. They did.

“Look, we can make it so that the suit doesn’t do that _thing_ in water, this material is better for it and it’ll still stretch like yours does now…” he rambled on and Kamala smiled.

“ _Should I take the upgrade?_ ” she sang along to Be More Chill, and Tony looked at her in what was probably amusement.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a song from this musical called [Be More Chill](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7HxqTsX6UQCJZsM_U76dmx99tTPS0nGC), the song’s called [Upgrade](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD5ULC29Cmg&index=13&list=PL7HxqTsX6UQCJZsM_U76dmx99tTPS0nGC) so I thought it was fitting, especially that line…”

“Can I hear the song?”

Kamala shrugged and reached for her phone, pressing on the song. Tony’s eyes widened at some parts – “This is the kinda stuff you listen to?”

When the song finished he shrugged and held a hand out to her. “ _You gotta get an upgrade!_ ” he sang and she laughed.

(He was actually a _really_ good singer, and Kamala desperately wanted to bring it up and get him to sing more but she didn’t think that would exactly be welcomed.)

She pretended to think about it for a while. “ _Should I take the upgrade?_ ” she put a hand to her chin, and then she held them out in what was almost a star.

“ _And I wasn’t sure before, but now I wanna go all the way and more! So give me that upgrade!_ ” she belted out, and Tony laughed.

 

If, a few days later, she heard him singing some of those same lines to Peter about trying to upgrade his suit…

“ _You gotta take the upgrade!_ ”

She just high fived herself and sang along for Peter, who didn’t know the song to be able to.

 

 

3.

Next, finally, it was Zoe and Nakia, both somehow at the same time. She’d been at school, and it was during lunch as she took out her phone and hit shuffle on her music. The first song to come on was from [The Great Comet](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8SjdpmZomAqWqlYj-JTTPxuyyyET8FdM), [Letters](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqiCObZh-rA&index=14&list=PL8SjdpmZomAqWqlYj-JTTPxuyyyET8FdM).

Zoe, who had asked to share her earphones at the start because she’d forgotten her own at home, had looked up and laughed.

“Why is it singing about 19th century Russia?”

“Because in 19th century Russia they write letters.”

Nakia had looked up in confusion. “I thought you hated history?” She phrased it as a question, and Kamala shrugged.

“Sure, I hate history class, but historical musicals? They’re amazing and I love them. Especially The Great Comet.”

Zoe nodded. “It’s actually not that bad. I don’t get any of the story, but it sounds pretty nice.” Nakia’s face was now full of curiosity, and she gestured to the phone.

“Let me hear.”

She took the earphones out and put the volume up a bit, starting the song again so that they could all hear it. Nakia didn’t seem very convinced until they actually started singing, and she looked almost taken aback.

After that, they both made her go back to the start of the musical and listen to the whole thing.

Both of them were ridiculously fond of the Prologue, and made her play it over loads of times – just by the end of lunch, both of them could recite the whole song.

“Ok but wait, is it called The Great Comet, like you said, or _Natasha, Pierre_ and the Great Comet _of 1812_?” Zoe asked, highlighting the extra words.

“It’s official name is Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, but that’s just so long, so no one actually calls it that.”

Zoe nodded. “Ok.”

Kamala looked at Zoe again and thought about something for a second, before leaning in.

“While we’re getting into musicals, I’d recommend Fun Home. It’s kinda a musical about a lesbian coming to terms with her sexuality and relationship with her father and all these things it’s really good,” she said, smiling, and Zoe nodded and laughed at her rambling. She then turned back to Nakia.

“The Great Comet is really good though. We weren’t able to get through the whole thing today, but you should totally listen to the rest of it as well! I’ll send you a link to it, and then if you guys decide you like it enough you can download it…”

She took out her phone again and texted a YouTube link to both Zoe and Nakia, sending them both a smile as she did it. She then opened her private chat with Zoe and sent her a link to Fun Home as well.

Zoe then took out her phone and tapped something out. “Wait… Wikipedia says that the actual comet itself was in 1811? What? Kamala, how come it’s called the Great Comet of 1812 if the comet was in 1811?”

Kamala just shrugged her shoulders, unable to answer, and Zoe shook her head in disappointment.

 

The next day Nakia had memorised all the rest of The Great Comet, and Zoe took her aside to thank her for recommending Fun Home. Kamala was more than a little proud of herself.

 

 

4.

Kamala, Miles and Sam were hanging out outside of their costumes for once.

Usually what happened was that they would come across each other while superhero-ing, and then they might go out to get something to eat to celebrate something that happened while they were out. If there was nothing to celebrate, then they would _find_ something to celebrate.

They met as _Ms Marvel_ and _Spider-Man_ and _Nova_.

This time though, they’d set up a time to come together and watch a movie – after some deliberation they finally settled on the first Harry Potter movie. They had just finished the movie and were now standing around the table and eating pancakes that they had just made – after a lot of yelling and throwing ingredients at each other.

Kamala started humming along to something under her breath, and Miles looked at her.

“You’re humming, but somehow it’s _not_ Hedwig’s Theme. How can you watch Harry Potter and hum something _other than_ Hedwig’s Theme?” he laughed and she shrugged. Sam swallowed his bite of his pancaked for long enough to ask, “What _were_ you humming then?”

She thought about it for a second, trying to place the tune, and then smiled.

“It’s called [Sincerely, Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOYAA13Bm9M&index=4&list=PLydqpaFV4P3a4wcft9WQPdjS5X4GEGujG), from [Dear Evan Hansen](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLydqpaFV4P3a4wcft9WQPdjS5X4GEGujG).” She then looked at them, and smirked. “You know, we have the exact number of people needed to perform it properly.”

Sam looked at her for a second and shook his head. “I don’t sing, at least not… _in front_ of people.”

Miles, on the other hand, smiled and nodded his head. “I mean, we’ll have to hear the song first, but sure!”

Kamala put it on, and hummed along as it played. Both Miles and Sam were laughing by the end.

Sam shook his head with a smile on his face. “I’ll do it if I can be that guy who just makes all the random remarks throughout it.”

“Jared,” Kamala confirmed. Then she turned to Miles. “Do you wanna be Connor or Evan?”

He shrugged. “Um… Evan.”

Kamala side-eyed them both, then smiled as charmingly as she could. “Can we please, please do the choreography too?”

“To a song like this? Absolutely not.”

She deflated and then shrugged. She stood up and was about to sing, but then she stopped. “I’m kinda a terrible singer, so if either of you says _anything_ about it I will… ignore you for _at least_ a week.”

Then she started to sing, and next thing she knew they were all laughing and doing their own dances in the middle of the room.

“Ha! We _did_ end up dancing!” She then thought about it before raising a hand. “I vote we now do the same with the entire rest of the soundtrack.”

Both of them just shrugged, and so she started the playlist from the top.

“Oh, also, Tony called me M&M and I am _still_ internally dying over it,” she said before she started singing again.

 

She swore that the next time they met up, they both ended up humming along to some of the songs.

 

 

5.

Her meeting with Peter Parker was totally accidental. The two hadn’t really talked, or even _met_ , before, and besides, she had her own Spider-Man in the form of Miles.

She had never… _actually_ thought to ask either of them why, or _how_ , both of them were called Spider-Man. It had never come up, and she didn’t bring it up.

The first time they met, it had been in Avengers Tower. They had both been walking around the same corner (…ok, _maybe_ Kamala had been running. In her defense… _Tony Stark_. And maybe she’d had her earphones in so that she couldn’t hear what was going on. In her defense on that one, _he had his in too_.) and had crashed headfirst into each other, both of them somehow ending up on the floor.

Wasn’t Spider-Man meant to have this spider thing that kept this from happening to him though?

She just shrugged and decided not to think about it too much. That would only end up getting _way_ too confusing.

The situation that she was in finally caught up to her, and she started to blush. “Oh my god – I’m so sorry, wow – I really should have been looking where I was going – I shouldn’t have been running – I probably shouldn’t  have had my earphones in either…”

She laughed as she realized that something almost exactly the same was coming out of Peter’s mouth, just _faster_.

“I am so sorry I usually rely on my spidey sense to check stuff like that for me but I should have been looking where I was going I was just distracted by a file Mr Stark sent me and I couldn’t hear even with my advanced hearing because my music was so loud I’m really sorry –“

He was cut off when Kamala started laughing, and he seemed to register what she had been saying too. Then they were both laughing, if a little shyly because this was _Spider-Man_ , and this was _Ms Marvel_ and just _wow_. On both sides.

Kamala laughed again, more awkwardly now, as neither of them made any effort to get up from the floor. “So… um… what’re you listening to?” she asked, and cursed herself for the weird question.

Wordlessly, he held out one of his earphones to her, and she took it and held one of hers out to him.

His song sounded sort of like it was from some indie band, and she probably wasn’t wrong. She liked it though, and found herself nodding along.

“What’s this called?” she asked when it had finished.

He took a second to answer. “It’s called [Left Hand Free, by alt-J](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRWUoDpo2fo). Yours?”

“It’s called [Carrying the Banner](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oECt8v1ehHw&list=PLNXSK9RU25sh2zU-pzMDC2DeR_2qI7xMd&index=3) – it’s from a musical called [Newsies](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNXSK9RU25sh2zU-pzMDC2DeR_2qI7xMd).” He nodded and seemed to make a note of that on his phone, and smiled at her.

Then they both let out a sigh. Kamala decided she would voice both of their thoughts. “I cannot, for the life of me, be bothered to get up from this floor. Not even for Tony Stark.”

He nodded once. “High school, huh? Sucks out all of your motivation.”

“Exactly.” She nodded along.

(They ended up just lying there for ten minutes. Kamala felt it was a real bonding moment, and told him that at the end, right before they switched phone numbers. Right after they had both gone their separate ways, it occurred to her that neither of them had told the other their actual names. She shrugged and saved his number under _‘Spidey’_. She didn’t think he’d mind.)

 

 **Spidey:** so I ended up listening to the rest of Newsies

 **Spidey:** it’s actually really good and I will love u forever for introducing me to it

 

 

+1

When Kamala got home after a full night of superhero-ing, she was almost straight away attacked by Bruno running out of her kitchen and grabbing both her arms.

(She heard her brother yell after him, “Watch it! Hands off Kamala!” He was promptly ignored by both of them.)

“Ok, since you introduced me to Heathers it is _important_ that I tell you about this. Like, ultra-mega-super important and you _know_ it’s important when I start using your words to describe it.”

Kamala nodded slowly, trying to keep up. “Yeah? What is this ultra-mega-super important thing that’s so important you need to jump out at me like this? You almost gave me a heart attack, honestly.”

He rolled his eyes. “Trust me, you’re going to want to know this.” When he didn’t continue, she waved her arm at him signaling for him to go on. “Someone made a musical about the Avengers. And you’re in it.”

(This was when _she_ grabbed _his_ arm, ran up to her room and squealed.)

 

“Hello?”

“M&M.” Tony’s voice came through the phone when she picked it up. “Now, I know you’re into those Broadway musicals and things, and I heard about this new musical and thought I should tell you.”

“Yeah?”

“There’s a musical about the Avengers. Apparently you’re one of the important characters.”

 

Zoe and Nakia ambushed her at school. They still didn’t know that _she_ was Ms Marvel though, so she had no idea what made them come to her about this musical.

“Kamala! Kamala! You know your complete _obsession_ with the Avengers? And with musicals? Well someone combined the two.”

There it is.

“Yeah, I’ve… been told. Quite a few times, actually. Thanks anyway though.”

 

Sam and Miles had asked her to meet them at this restaurant in excitement, and Kamala almost _definitely_ knew what this was going to be about.

“Kam!” Sam yelled to her, and she smiled.

“Kam? I like that,” she said back, and Miles tugged on her arm, pulling her to a table.

When they were all sat down, the two smiled excitedly and Miles turned to her.

“We have a musical about us!”

“Well, not about _us_ , specifically…”

“But the Avengers –“

“And we’re in it!”

The two of them kept finishing each other’s sentences, and Kamala laughed.

“I’ve been told. It’s actually really good, have you listened to it yet?

 

 **Spidey:**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 **Spidey:** there’s an avengers musical!!!!!!!!!

 **Spidey:** we’re in it omg

 **Spidey:** I’M IN A MUSICAL

 **You:** yeah lol ik

 **You:** you’re just like the seventh person to tell me

 **Spidey:** M&M I DON’T THINK U GET IT

 **Spidey:** (also I’m using mr stark’s name for u)

 **Spidey:** I A M I N A M U S I C A L

**Author's Note:**

> Fun Fact: This whole thing was inspired by the bit with Tony and Upgrade  
> also it took way too long to add all the links onto this
> 
> ((also x2 this is my way of projecting myself onto my favourite superheroes :) ))
> 
> check out my [tumblr](http://wwwlw.tumblr.com/)!! send me prompts!!


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